John Maggs believes that he has found the answer to last season's goalscoring problems after announcing the arrival of two exciting new additions to his squad. Ben Andrews (Worthing) and Pat Harding (Eastbourne Borough) agreed terms with the Hornets supremo today to cap a satisfying couple of weeks that has seen almost all of last season's squad pledge themselves to the club for the 2009/10 campaign.

"I'm thrilled and delighted that these boys have agreed to join us," Maggs beamed. "I've been an admirer of Ben for a long time and would love to have had him on board sooner. He was captain of Worthing last season and I know that they (Worthing) were gutted when he told them he was leaving but he was very disappointed to miss out on promotion as he wants to play at a higher level and I've no doubt he'll prove very to be very popular with our supporters. He's a big lad, terrific in the air, and can play up top or at the back but we've signed him as a target man where he'll compliment Pat very nicely.

I can't tell you how excited we are that Pat's joining us. He's a terrific player with a proven pedigree, a great engine and will get in the box and score you goals. It was our good fortune, if you like, that Eastbourne decided to release him and we've pulled off a bit of a coup by beating off several other sides to his signature.

What pleases me as much as anything, though, is that both players said it was our style of play that attracted them to Horsham. They know what we're about and want to be part of what we all hope will be an exciting and successful season."

The new signings will raise a few eyebrows among supporters who have had to get used to the idea of Maggs having to operate on a reduced budget for next season but the boss has been quick to play down any fears that he maybe forced to release players later in the season through over spending. "I was given a specific budget to bring the two players in and I'm right on the button with it so I'm happy with that. I've not ruled out bringing in another player but we'll have to raise further cash before we can do that. However, I have a number of trialists to look at pre-season so we'll see what happens."

Meanwhile, Maggs is hopeful that former Spurs striker Claude Seanla will remain at the club, despite the new arrivals, but revealed that Reggie Savage is considering his options during the summer. "We've been pretty inconsistent up front for a couple of seasons so I would like Claude to stay on as he is very much in my plans, as are promising youngsters Tony Nwachukwu, Adam Hutchings and George Magnus and I'm hoping that all of them will be at pre-season training."

Ironically, the new signings could make their Hornets debut against Andrews' former club after it was announced that Horsham will return to Woodside Road for a friendly against the Rebels on Saturday 18th July.

Wednesday 3rd June 2009